Video Professor employs advanced direct marketing techniques
Video Professor, an industry leading computer education tutorial producer, used direct marketing techniques to skyrocket its little-known business into the homes of millions of consumers across the country.
Video Professor was created in 1987 by John W. Scherer. At the time, Scherer owned and operated a PC sales company. Many of Scherer’s customers were having trouble mastering the new computer programs he offered them, and unable to derive useful information from the unwieldy text manuals that served as the only support system for computer programs at the time. Responding to his customers needs, Scherer soon began producing video tutorials that showed how to operate the most popular programs of the early computer era, prompting the birth of Video Professor.
Video Professor’s product was unlike any computer education material of its time, and spread quickly by word of mouth through local trade shows and retail outlets. However, the product seemed doomed to anonymity until Scherer realized that a unique direct marketing technique could bring Video Professor from the brink of obscurity.
In 1991, Video Professor took the direct marketing leap of faith and produced an infomercial that eventual lead to nationwide success. In an effort to reach a large customer base, Video Professor utilized a recognizable face to help market its patented video tutorials. Luckily for Video Professor, Jeff Conaway of Grease and Taxi fame heard about the Video Professor product and agreed to join the infomercial campaign. The direct marketing infomercial technique allowed potential Video Professor customers to buy computer education products directly from the company over the phone.
Video Professor infomercials still run today, bringing in around 90 million viewers each month. By using the infomercial direct marketing technique, John Scherer has become an integral part of the Video Professor brand name. Infomercial success has increased John Scherer and Video Professor’s notoriety, producing valuable face recognition for the CEO. Infomercial direct marketing techniques have brought Video Professor national popularity and put John Scherer in a rare group of CEO’s who have marketed themselves successfully with their company, helping to promote the patented Video Professor learning system and legitimize its consumer offers.
Video Professor has also increased its direct marketing campaign to the internet. Video Professor now offers many sites featuring a “call to action” style of direct marketing, designed to promote the latest Video Professor free tutorial offers. The Video Professor sites offer a direct line for customers to engage in the company’s free trial.
The success of the direct marketing infomercials and free trial offers have allowed Video Professor to expand its computer tutorials to include everything from Microsoft Word training sessions, to tutorials that help people learn eBay and HTML.
In its early life, Video Professor offered a unique and highly marketable computer education product, but without the specialized marketing techniques the company used through infomercial campaigns and “call to action” web sites, Video Professor would have never reached the massive customer base it services today.